CODEWITHSUNDEEP
android
Rameshwar.S.Soni
Rameshwar.S.Soni

Reputation: 650

Android -- selecting API from SDK Manager

I have downloaded the Android SDK(which i think has no version, it is standard). After installing Android SDK, Android SDK Manager comes which by default selects 3 things to be downloaded
(1)Android SDK tools
(2)Android 4.0.3 (API 15) and the things under it like documentation, samples etc
(3)Google USB driver
But at present i am having book on Android 3, so should i deselect the second option i.e. Android 4.0.3 (API 15) and select all things under Android 3.0 (API 11) or keeping Android 4.0.3 will be OK for Android 3.
I know there are tutorials for Android 4.0.3 on Web so why should i go for Android 3 because i find it easy through books and i got Android 3 here in my place and still no Android 4.
So what should i do?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 924

Answers (2)

vhallac
vhallac

Reputation: 13907

You should select the API level that you will target. For example, I am writing an application for API level 7 (Android 2.1.x), so I've got that version installed on my machine. Of course, you can have more than one API level installed, so it is safe to install any combination (for example 3.0.x and 4.0.4 simultaneously - see last paragraph for the reason).

Once you've got a few API levels installed, Eclipse will allow you to change the target API for your project to any of the versions you have installed. The same applies for the command-line project creation.

There is actually one good use-case for installing a version newer than the one you are targeting in addition to the one you use: testing. You can create an emulation environment for a newer version of the API to ensure that your application does not crash and burn when the API levels do not match. If we were to extend my above example, a sensible set of levels to install is 3.0.x, 3.2, and 4.0.4. You can target the initial release of Honeycomb (unless you need anything from the later versions), and test with both the latest Honeycomb and Ice Cream Sandwitch.

Upvotes: 2

sschrass
sschrass

Reputation: 7156

You can install everything. I would recommend to install the API level you want to develop for. But it doesn't hurt (but wastes disk space) to install everything.

Sidenote: Android 3.0 is for tablets, 2.x for older and 4.x for the latest Android Smartphone devices.

Upvotes: 3

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